Indo Gulf to raise production capacity by 47%

MUMBAI: Indo Gulf Corporation, one of India's two largest copper makers, plans to raise its production capacity by nearly 47 percent by next August-September, D Bhattacharya, managing director of Indo Gulf, said on Tuesday.

Its capacity will rise to 220,000 tonnes a year from 150,000 tonnes after the expansion of its copper smelter. "We are working out the next phase of expansion, which will come through in the next financial year," he said.

Bhattacharya is noncommittal on the cost of the new expansion, but said it normally cost about $1,500 for every tonne of capacity added.

Last year, Indo Gulf, part of the diversified Aditya Birla Group, raised the capacities of both its smelter from 100,000 tonnes a year, mainly by removing bottlenecks.

Indo Gulf has roped in Australia's Ausmelt Ltd to provide the technology to expand the smelter at Dahej in the western state of Gujarat, he said.

Bhattacharya said Indo Gulf was likely to produce around 182,000 tonnes of copper in the year to March 2003, up from 151,000 tonnes in the past year, which was more than its rated yearly capacity.

Indo Gulf plans to export 74,000 tonnes of copper this year, mainly to South East Asia and the Middle East -- from more than 42,000 tonnes in the previous year.

The company now imports about 80 percent of its copper concentrate requirements through long-term contracts, buying the rest in the global spot market.

"Our plan is to source 25 percent of the long-term contracts from our own mines," he said.